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You're all missing the point. :-)
Episode II was brilliant, y'all. Brilliant. Almost without exception, it did precisely what it set out to do at precisely the level it set out to do it. (Now, whether you are in favor of what it was trying to do is a whole separate issue, and not so debatable. [g]) It's not just head and shoulders ahead of Episode 1; it's in a whole bleedin' different event.
As Senator "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" Amidala, Natalie Portman continues to speak with very little inflection in her voice. Is this evidence that the girl can't act? Not at all. Look at her face. There's an honest-to-god performance happening there, but you have to be watching to see it. :-) I mean, she's not Jessica Tandy, but still. (I'll come back to this.)
As Anakin "I was a leather-wearing teen padawan" Skywalker, Hayden Christensen speaks as though he has marbles on his tongue. Frankly, that's what annoyed me the most about his performance; every time he closed his mouth, I swear I could see that George had said "Now, Hayden, the most important thing is not to clench your teeth, because until the thing with the sand people, Anakin's not really angry." God! Freakin' annoyed me. The kid's dialogue was atrocious, of course, but it was plainly supposed to be: look at Amidala's reactions. The whole place was laughing out loud. These weren't "love" scenes! They were "aw, aren't teenagers precious" scenes. The meadow thing? The hills are alive ... Dudes. Lighten up! :-)
As Obi-Wan "Call me master" Kenobi, Ewan McGregor has once again has to fill the boots of Sir Alec Guinness, and he has to do it with lines like "Why do I think you'll be the death of me?" and not wait for the rim shot or raise his eyebrows at the camera or anything. He does a damned fine job.
The real thing about all the performances, quite honestly, is the same thing as last time: the actors were as good as they could be in the absence of much constructive input from their director. The difference is, this time none of the actors were nine. These people have all been professionals for some time; they've taken direction before; they can say to themselves, for instance, "Hmm. The kid who played Anakin-as-a-child was sort of wooden and unemotive. Guess that had better be a layer of Anakin-as-a-teenager, too."
In fandom, we often draw a distinction between the Man Behind the Curtain explanation for a thing and the Universe is Real explanation; Hayden C's task was to take the MBtC fact that poor Jake Lloyd didn't get any direction, and sustain that so that at least the character of Anakin stayed consistent to some degree. The teenager had a much broader range of expression, obviously, but the child was still there. Father of the man and all that. Really, the only thing that irked me about Anakin was the dialogue (but see above) and the marbles-on-the-tongue thing.
Final point on the performances: does anyone remember the Holy Trilogy? "I was going down to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!" Luke and Leia with no bridge across the chasm and the stormtroopers beating down the door? "There's no lock! ... They're coming through!" Talk about a doofy performance. Historically, these are movies with unremarkable performances in the lead roles. The real excellent work is done by the folks with the least screen time, the Alec Guinnesses and the Peter Cushings and the Pernilla Augusts and the Christopher Lees. It would be just the most incongruous thing ever if Natalie Portman or Hayden Christensen turned in a performance of quiet depth and subtle nuance; that's not what they're for. Ewan McGregor himself is on thin ice, but fortunately he can live in both worlds because he's that good.
Nowthen. The actual writing.
I want to marry the co-writer.
I've been saying for years and years and years that George Lucas is a fantastic idea man but a lousy writer. The scripts he's written himself have been stark evidence of that. But when someone else does the writing -- or, as here, when someone else at least joins him -- things are different. This script was so much tighter than the last one. The scenes had more cohesion. The editing was, god, a whole other species. Sure, there were some issues -- so you're telling me that on Naboo, you elect the queen and she appoints the senators? small wonder such a backward place is getting itself overrun -- but in general, the writing was purposeful and consistent with the Star Wars style, and I had hardly any complaints with it.
And one thing I found absolutely brilliant: the juxtaposition of Obi-Wan looking at the clone factory on the Planet of Rain (I forget its name) with C-3PO looking at the droid factory on Geonosis. Absolute freakin' genius, right there, the device with the High storyline (involving, approximately, the nobility) having a parallel in the Low storyline (involving the commoners). Talk about your "rude mechanicals!" :-) If this were Shakespeare, the Jedi would speak in verse and the droids would speak in prose. And before you say "But, Fox, George Lucas ain't no Shakespeare," don't forget that in his day Shakespeare was no Shakespeare. Popular culture, is all, and the inventiveness levels of WS and GL are about comparable.
And if R2-D2 isn't Puck, I'll eat my boots. :-D That is all.
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The difference is, this time none of the actors were nine.
How about Little Boba Fett, though? He was FANTASTIC! I was reminded of the Feral Child in "Road Warrior"... just a WONDERFUL character, and done with hardly any dialog. THAT kid is GOOD.
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Funny--I've been saying that, too, but every time I do, someone tries to beat the shit out of me.
I was totally happy with this movie. It delivered what I expected, and it delivered it good. It's not Portman's or Christiansen's fault that Lucas can't direct human beings as well as he can CGI figures.
no subject
Funny--I've been saying that, too, but every time I do, someone tries to beat the shit out of me.
Maybe you're not saying it with enough charm and panache. [g]